Tinde van Andel - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Tinde van Andel

Economic Botany, 2019

do Brasil, enquanto as outras são mais amplamente distribuídas. O HNB inclui um dos primeiros rel... more do Brasil, enquanto as outras são mais amplamente distribuídas. O HNB inclui um dos primeiros relatos sobre plantas africanas cultivadas no Brasil, como gergelim, quiabo e planta de aranha. Neste estudo, revelamos a retenção de conhecimento indígena e africano sobre plantas desde a criação do HNB e reconhecemos o papel crucial de seus contribuintes não europeus.

Historia Agraria, 75 􀀀 Agosto 2018􀀀 pp. 67-102, 2018

Alongside the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plant species travelled from Africa to the Americas and... more Alongside the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plant species travelled from Africa to the Americas and back. This article examines the emerging rice gene pool in Suriname due to the global circulation of people, plants and goods. We distinguish three phases of circulation, marked by two major transitions. Rice was brought to the Americas by European colonizers, mostly as food on board slave ships. In Suriname rice started off as a crop grown only by Maroon communities in the forests of the Suriname
interior. For these runaway slaves cultivating several types of rice for diverse purposes played an important role in restoring some of their African culture. Rice was an anti-commodity that acted as a signal of protest against the slave-based plantation economy. After the end of slavery, contract labourers recruited from British India and the Dutch Indies also brought rice to Suriname. These groups grew rice as a commodity for internal and global markets. This formed the basis of a second transition, turning rice into an object of scientific research. The last phase of science-driven circulation of rice connected the late-colonial period with the global Green Revolution.

PLoS ONE, 2018

Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, O... more Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards. In ancient literature, however, this name also refers to the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. and its edible rhizome. Like taro, lotus is an alien introduction to the Mediterranean, and there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of plants referred to as colocasia in ancient literature. Another early name used to indicate taro was arum, a name already attested from the 4th century BC. Today, this name refers to Arum, an aroid genus native to West Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. Our aim is to explore historical references to taro in order to clarify when and through which routes this plant reached the Mediterranean. To investigate Greek and Latin texts, we performed a search using the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), plus commentaries and English and French translations of original texts. Results show that while in the early Greek and Latin literature the name kolokasia (Greek κολοκάσια) and its Latin equivalent colocasia refer to Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., after the 4th century AD a poorly understood linguistic shift occurs, and colocasia becomes the name for taro. We also found that aron (Greek ἄρον) and its Latin equivalent arum are names used to indicate taro from the 3rd century BC and possibly earlier.

International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 2018

Traditional gastronomy and cuisine play an important role in building national and personal ident... more Traditional gastronomy and cuisine play an important role in building national and personal identities. In an era of globalization of food systems and dietary patterns where transnational food companies are rapidly expanding in Sub-Saharan Africa, and there is a risk that national differences blur and fade away, communities can keep a strong and confident sense of their identity and culture. Preserving culinary knowledge helps to preserve genetic diversity and it is also essential to maintain and strengthen ethnic and cultural identities. During a study on taro cultivars, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, conducted in Southwest, Northwest and West Cameroon, local farmers mentioned a traditional dish known as Achu made by pounding taro corms into a dough-type paste, which is accompanied by different sauces. To document the culinary heritage associated to this popular dish, we asked farmers to show a step-by-step preparation of Achu, identify different ingredients and explain why these were included. We recorded the preparation of this traditional meal with pictures that we report here with the original recipe.

Until recently, taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, was considered a neglected food crop due to... more Until recently, taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, was considered a neglected food crop due to its low palatability and inferior value compared to other root crops such as cassava, potatoes and yams. Under the impulse of new studies on plant dispersal, and in light of the severe threats posed by pests to its conservation status, this crop has finally received more attention. However, there is still insufficient knowledge on specific cultivars and their culinary and medicinal uses, especially in Africa. We studied the agrodiversity of taro cultivars in Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Tanzania. Here, we present ethnobotanical, morphological and linguistic data of 20 taro cultivars, as well as specific notes on abandoned landraces. These traditional varieties represent valuable genetic resources and can be instrumental in protecting taro from the genetic erosion caused by preference for yautia, and diseases such as the leaf blight. With this work, we call for renewed efforts to conserve this species and its landraces.

Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a tropical plant of Asian origin, which is now extensiv... more Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a tropical plant of Asian origin, which is now extensively cultivated in Africa, with Nigeria and Cameroon providing 60% of the worldwide production. Despite the economic role and long history of taro in Africa, there is no structured information available on the morphological diversity, cultivation, trade, culinary, and medicinal uses associated with this crop in Africa. This paper presents the results of a literature review of taro in Africa using the references stored in the Prelude database of African medicinal plants, to provide a more comprehensive picture of the current scientific knowledge on the utilization of this crop. Our results include information found in the African floras, published papers, as well as in the gray literature sources, and they show that taro is not only a food crop known under a large diversity of names that vary by region, but it is also widely used as a medicinal plant to cure human and animal diseases. The many local names applied to taro almost never have a correspondent morphological description in the literature. Combined genetic and ethnobotanical studies of this crop in Africa are needed to link cultivars to cultivation techniques, medicinal and culinary uses.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2017

A B S T R A C T Ethnopharmacological relevance: What are the minimum methodological and conceptua... more A B S T R A C T Ethnopharmacological relevance: What are the minimum methodological and conceptual requirements for an ethnopharmacological field study? How can the results of ethnopharmacological field studies be reported so that researchers with different backgrounds can draw on the results and develop new research questions and projects? And how should these field data be presented to get accepted in a scientific journal such as the Journal of Ethnopharmacology? The objective of this commentary is to create a reference that covers the basic standards necessary during planning, conducting and reporting of field research. Materials and methods: We focus on conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies on medicinal plants or materia medica and associated knowledge of a specific people or region. The article highlights the most frequent problems and pitfalls, and draws on published literature, fieldwork experience, and extensive insights from peer-review of field studies. Results: Research needs to be ethical and legal, and follow local and national regulations. Primary ethnopharmacological field data need to be collected and presented in a transparent and comprehensible way. In short this includes: 1) Relevant and concise research questions, 2) Thorough literature study encompassing all available information on the study site from different disciplines, 3) Appropriate methods to answer the research questions, 4) Proper plant use documentation, unambiguously linked to voucher specimens, and 5) Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the collected data, the latter relying on use-reports as basic units. Conclusion: Although not exhaustive, we provide an overview of the necessary main issues to consider for field research and data reporting including a list of minimal standards and recommendations for best practices. For methodological details and how to correctly apply specific methods, we refer to further reading of suggested textbooks and methods manuals.

Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 2015

Global Ecology and Conservation, 2016

Journal of ethnopharmacology, Jan 20, 2016

Traditional medicine plays an important role in the primary health care practices of Maroons livi... more Traditional medicine plays an important role in the primary health care practices of Maroons living in the interior of Suriname. Large numbers of medicinal plants are employed to maintain general health and cure illnesses. Little is known, however, on how knowledge of herbal medicine varies within the community and whether plant use remains important when modern health care becomes available. To document the diversity in medicinal plant knowledge and use in a remote Saramaccan Maroon community and to assess the importance of medicinal plants vis a vis locally available modern healthcare. We hypothesized that ailments which could be treated by the village health center would be less salient in herbal medicine reports. During three months fieldwork in the Saramaccan village of Pikin Slee, ethnobotanical data were collected by means of participant observations, voucher collections and 27 semi-structured interviews and informal discussions with 20 respondents. To test whether knowledge ...

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2016

Although ritual plant use is now recognised both for its socio-cultural importance and for its co... more Although ritual plant use is now recognised both for its socio-cultural importance and for its contribution to nature conservation, its potential pharmacological effects remain overlooked. Our objective was to see whether ritual plant use could have ethnopharmacological relevance through practices that involve direct physical contact with the human body. We hypothesise that ritual practices reflect traditional knowledge on biological activities of plant species, even if plants are used in a symbolic way. Data were collected in collaboration with traditional healers and ritual plant vendors and harvesters in Benin (West Africa) and Gabon (Central Africa). Both ritual and medicinal uses of plants were recorded. Voucher specimens were collected and identified. We documented different administration routes of ritual plants and selected those whose uses involved direct contact with the human body. Based on our quantitative market surveys and field inventories, we identified 24 commercially or otherwise culturally important species and compared their ritual uses with proven biological activity from the literature. We recorded 573 plant species with 667 ritual uses, of which ca. 75% (442 species and 499 uses) implied direct contact with the human body. The most common route of administration for ritual treatments was baths, followed by oral ingestion and skin rubbing. One third (186 species) of all ritual plants doubled as medicine for physical ailments. In contrast to previous research that explained the effectiveness of ritual plant use to be a matter of belief, our results hint at the potential medicinal properties of these plants. Ritual treatment of madness caused by evil spirits by the consumption of Rauvolfia vomitoria roots, for example, may be based on the species' proven anticonvulsant properties. We discuss some of the possible implications of ritual plant use for public health and conclude by suggesting that ritual plant uses that do not involve contact with the human body may also be vehicles for the transmission of traditional medicinal knowledge.

Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 2005

Aerial roots of hemiepiphytes are used throughout the Amazon Basin for house construction, basket... more Aerial roots of hemiepiphytes are used throughout the Amazon Basin for house construction, basketry, traps and furniture. Here we describe how 15 species of hemiepiphytes are extracted by six indigenous groups in the Colombian Amazon for traditional artefacts, commercial crafts and as raw material for the furniture industry. Indigenous classification systems, use preferences, and the influence of the craft trade on indigenous livelihoods are discussed. The craft trade seems to improve the living conditions of local communities by making them less dependent from local guerrilla and coca production. However, we seriously question the sustainability of current fibre extraction. Designing adequate management plans for commercial hemiepiphytes is essential to guarantee the future supply of these valuable non-timber forest products.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2016

In West Africa, women utilize wild plant species to maintain and enhance their health throughout ... more In West Africa, women utilize wild plant species to maintain and enhance their health throughout the duration of pregnancy. These plants are a culturally resilient and financially accessible form of nourishment for pregnant women in the region, many of whom are malnourished, yet studies that identify both the nutritional and medicinal properties of these plants are limited. The objective of this study was to analyze women's knowledge of plants consumed in pregnancy in the southern regions of Ghana and Benin from a food-medicine continuum perspective. We gathered data in two fieldwork periods in West Africa (Ghana 2010 and Benin 2011) through herbal market surveys and 56 questionnaires with women and then conducted a literature review on known properties of the plants. Ghanaian women reported consuming wild greens such as iron-rich Nephrolepis biserrata and tree barks such as protein-rich Ricinodendron heudelotii in a soup based on the African oil palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis), a source of fatty acids. In Benin, participants frequently reported ingesting plants during pregnancy in the form of herbal teas. Commonly cited species included Securidaca longipedunculata, Dichapetalum madagascariense, and Schwenckia americana. Several of the plants demonstrated antioxidant, anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory activity in pharmacological studies, yet the majority has incomplete nutritional and pharmacological profiles. In total, informants cited 105 species that were consumed during pregnancy. Although Ghanaian and Beninese women mentioned different species and different forms of consumption, in both countries women cited "strengthening" as the most common motivation to consume wild plants during pregnancy. Strengthening is a concept that resonates within the food-medicine continuum, bridging the local diet and herbal pharmacopoeia of women's plant use during pregnancy. Ethnobotanical studies of this nature highlight the multidimensional use of plants and can improve health and nutritional programs in the region.

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Sep 2015

Magical charm plants – used to ensure good luck in hunting, fishing, agriculture, love and warfar... more Magical charm plants – used to ensure good luck in hunting, fishing, agriculture, love and warfare – are known among many Amerindians groups in the Guianas. Documented by anthropologists as social and political markers and exchangeable commodities, these charms have received little attention by ethnobotanists, as they are surrounded by secrecy and are difficult to identify. We compared the use of charm species among indigenous groups in the Guianas to see whether similarity in charm species was related to geographical or cultural proximity. We hypothesized that cultivated plants were more widely shared than wild ones and that charms with underground bulbs were more widely used than those without such organs, as vegetatively propagated plants would facilitate transfer of charm knowledge.

Forest Ecology and Management, 2008

Ethnobotany …, 2008

Medicinal plant markets provide not only a snapshot of a country's medicinal flora, but also of t... more Medicinal plant markets provide not only a snapshot of a country's medicinal flora, but also of the importance of herbal medicine among its inhabitants and their concerns about health and illness. During a market survey in 2006, we collected data on the diversity, source, and volume of plants being sold and exported, and the preferences of urban consumers in Suriname. More than 245 species of medicinal plants were sold at the markets of Paramaribo. The annual value of the domestic and export market was estimated to be worth over US$ 1.5 million. Prices of medicinal products were determined by resource scarcity, processing costs, distance to harvesting sites, and local demand. The growing numbers of urban Maroons with their cultural beliefs regarding health and illness, and their strong family ties to the interior are the moving force behind the commercialization of herbal medicine in Suriname.

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 2015

Old World crops entered the Americas as provision on slave ships and were planted by enslaved Afr... more Old World crops entered the Americas as provision on slave ships and were planted by enslaved Africans in their home gardens, known as the 'Botanical Gardens of the Dispossessed'. Escaped slaves who settled in Maroon communities in Suriname's forested interior practiced shifting cultivation for centuries with seeds they brought from their home gardens. After the abolishment of slavery, Creoles largely abandoned agriculture and farming became the activity of Asian wage laborers. Maroon agriculture has never been studied in detail. The recent discovery of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) in a Maroon garden initiated this ethnobotanical study on Old World crops grown by Maroons, and their motivations for maintaining this agrodiversity. In 2013, we collected crop cultivars and landraces and interviewed 16 Aucan and Saramaccan Maroon farmers. The greatest richness was encountered in bananas, taro, okra and rice. Most crops were used for food, but sesame, melegueta pepper and African rice largely lost their food function and served mainly for rituals. Farmers exchanged seeds and tubers with family members and other ethnicities in both urban and forest communities. Spending time in the capital during childbirth or illness resulted in the loss of typical Maroon crops (e.g., Bambara groundnut), as seeds lost viability during the farmer's absence. Motivation to grow specific crops and cultivars varied from tradition, food preference, seasonal spreading, rituals and traditional medicine. Documentation of specific landrace properties, storage of seeds in germplasm centers and in situ conservation are urgently needed to safeguard these previously undocumented Maroon landraces.

Taxon, 2012

The recent English translation of the diary of the Swedish naturalist Daniel Rolander (written 17... more The recent English translation of the diary of the Swedish naturalist Daniel Rolander (written 1754-1756) reveals the earliest written records on useful plants of Suriname. Since he did not grant Linnaeus access to his specimens, Rolander never received credit for his work, part of his collection was lost, and his diary never published. Here we compare Rolander's notes with recent ethnobotanical data from the Guianas and discuss how plant use has changed in the past 250 years. All species names in the diary with (potential) uses were updated to their current taxonomic status by using modern and historical literature, digitized Rolander specimens, herbarium collections and online nomenclatural databases. Rolander's diary lists uses for 263 plant names (228-242 spp.). Major use categories are medicine (109 spp.) and food (107 spp.). About 86% of these species are still used in Suriname today, 54% similarly as in the 1750s. Greatest correspondence was found among cultivated food crops, timber and ornamental species. Living conditions in Suriname have greatly improved since 1755, so much ancient famine food is now forgotten; while then popular fruits have become 'emergency food' today. Although ideas about health and illness have changed over the past centuries, uses have remained unchanged for 36% of the medicinal species. Rolander's diary contains first-hand observations on how plant uses were discovered, and how this knowledge was accumulated, transferred or kept secret in an 18th-century slave society. It represents one of the few historical sources that document the transfer of ethnobotanical knowledge among Amerindians, Europeans and Africans, as well as the trial-and-error process by which the enslaved Africans learned to use a new, American flora.

Economic Botany, 2019

do Brasil, enquanto as outras são mais amplamente distribuídas. O HNB inclui um dos primeiros rel... more do Brasil, enquanto as outras são mais amplamente distribuídas. O HNB inclui um dos primeiros relatos sobre plantas africanas cultivadas no Brasil, como gergelim, quiabo e planta de aranha. Neste estudo, revelamos a retenção de conhecimento indígena e africano sobre plantas desde a criação do HNB e reconhecemos o papel crucial de seus contribuintes não europeus.

Historia Agraria, 75 􀀀 Agosto 2018􀀀 pp. 67-102, 2018

Alongside the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plant species travelled from Africa to the Americas and... more Alongside the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plant species travelled from Africa to the Americas and back. This article examines the emerging rice gene pool in Suriname due to the global circulation of people, plants and goods. We distinguish three phases of circulation, marked by two major transitions. Rice was brought to the Americas by European colonizers, mostly as food on board slave ships. In Suriname rice started off as a crop grown only by Maroon communities in the forests of the Suriname
interior. For these runaway slaves cultivating several types of rice for diverse purposes played an important role in restoring some of their African culture. Rice was an anti-commodity that acted as a signal of protest against the slave-based plantation economy. After the end of slavery, contract labourers recruited from British India and the Dutch Indies also brought rice to Suriname. These groups grew rice as a commodity for internal and global markets. This formed the basis of a second transition, turning rice into an object of scientific research. The last phase of science-driven circulation of rice connected the late-colonial period with the global Green Revolution.

PLoS ONE, 2018

Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, O... more Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards. In ancient literature, however, this name also refers to the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. and its edible rhizome. Like taro, lotus is an alien introduction to the Mediterranean, and there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of plants referred to as colocasia in ancient literature. Another early name used to indicate taro was arum, a name already attested from the 4th century BC. Today, this name refers to Arum, an aroid genus native to West Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. Our aim is to explore historical references to taro in order to clarify when and through which routes this plant reached the Mediterranean. To investigate Greek and Latin texts, we performed a search using the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), plus commentaries and English and French translations of original texts. Results show that while in the early Greek and Latin literature the name kolokasia (Greek κολοκάσια) and its Latin equivalent colocasia refer to Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., after the 4th century AD a poorly understood linguistic shift occurs, and colocasia becomes the name for taro. We also found that aron (Greek ἄρον) and its Latin equivalent arum are names used to indicate taro from the 3rd century BC and possibly earlier.

International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 2018

Traditional gastronomy and cuisine play an important role in building national and personal ident... more Traditional gastronomy and cuisine play an important role in building national and personal identities. In an era of globalization of food systems and dietary patterns where transnational food companies are rapidly expanding in Sub-Saharan Africa, and there is a risk that national differences blur and fade away, communities can keep a strong and confident sense of their identity and culture. Preserving culinary knowledge helps to preserve genetic diversity and it is also essential to maintain and strengthen ethnic and cultural identities. During a study on taro cultivars, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, conducted in Southwest, Northwest and West Cameroon, local farmers mentioned a traditional dish known as Achu made by pounding taro corms into a dough-type paste, which is accompanied by different sauces. To document the culinary heritage associated to this popular dish, we asked farmers to show a step-by-step preparation of Achu, identify different ingredients and explain why these were included. We recorded the preparation of this traditional meal with pictures that we report here with the original recipe.

Until recently, taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, was considered a neglected food crop due to... more Until recently, taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, was considered a neglected food crop due to its low palatability and inferior value compared to other root crops such as cassava, potatoes and yams. Under the impulse of new studies on plant dispersal, and in light of the severe threats posed by pests to its conservation status, this crop has finally received more attention. However, there is still insufficient knowledge on specific cultivars and their culinary and medicinal uses, especially in Africa. We studied the agrodiversity of taro cultivars in Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Tanzania. Here, we present ethnobotanical, morphological and linguistic data of 20 taro cultivars, as well as specific notes on abandoned landraces. These traditional varieties represent valuable genetic resources and can be instrumental in protecting taro from the genetic erosion caused by preference for yautia, and diseases such as the leaf blight. With this work, we call for renewed efforts to conserve this species and its landraces.

Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a tropical plant of Asian origin, which is now extensiv... more Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a tropical plant of Asian origin, which is now extensively cultivated in Africa, with Nigeria and Cameroon providing 60% of the worldwide production. Despite the economic role and long history of taro in Africa, there is no structured information available on the morphological diversity, cultivation, trade, culinary, and medicinal uses associated with this crop in Africa. This paper presents the results of a literature review of taro in Africa using the references stored in the Prelude database of African medicinal plants, to provide a more comprehensive picture of the current scientific knowledge on the utilization of this crop. Our results include information found in the African floras, published papers, as well as in the gray literature sources, and they show that taro is not only a food crop known under a large diversity of names that vary by region, but it is also widely used as a medicinal plant to cure human and animal diseases. The many local names applied to taro almost never have a correspondent morphological description in the literature. Combined genetic and ethnobotanical studies of this crop in Africa are needed to link cultivars to cultivation techniques, medicinal and culinary uses.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2017

A B S T R A C T Ethnopharmacological relevance: What are the minimum methodological and conceptua... more A B S T R A C T Ethnopharmacological relevance: What are the minimum methodological and conceptual requirements for an ethnopharmacological field study? How can the results of ethnopharmacological field studies be reported so that researchers with different backgrounds can draw on the results and develop new research questions and projects? And how should these field data be presented to get accepted in a scientific journal such as the Journal of Ethnopharmacology? The objective of this commentary is to create a reference that covers the basic standards necessary during planning, conducting and reporting of field research. Materials and methods: We focus on conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies on medicinal plants or materia medica and associated knowledge of a specific people or region. The article highlights the most frequent problems and pitfalls, and draws on published literature, fieldwork experience, and extensive insights from peer-review of field studies. Results: Research needs to be ethical and legal, and follow local and national regulations. Primary ethnopharmacological field data need to be collected and presented in a transparent and comprehensible way. In short this includes: 1) Relevant and concise research questions, 2) Thorough literature study encompassing all available information on the study site from different disciplines, 3) Appropriate methods to answer the research questions, 4) Proper plant use documentation, unambiguously linked to voucher specimens, and 5) Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the collected data, the latter relying on use-reports as basic units. Conclusion: Although not exhaustive, we provide an overview of the necessary main issues to consider for field research and data reporting including a list of minimal standards and recommendations for best practices. For methodological details and how to correctly apply specific methods, we refer to further reading of suggested textbooks and methods manuals.

Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 2015

Global Ecology and Conservation, 2016

Journal of ethnopharmacology, Jan 20, 2016

Traditional medicine plays an important role in the primary health care practices of Maroons livi... more Traditional medicine plays an important role in the primary health care practices of Maroons living in the interior of Suriname. Large numbers of medicinal plants are employed to maintain general health and cure illnesses. Little is known, however, on how knowledge of herbal medicine varies within the community and whether plant use remains important when modern health care becomes available. To document the diversity in medicinal plant knowledge and use in a remote Saramaccan Maroon community and to assess the importance of medicinal plants vis a vis locally available modern healthcare. We hypothesized that ailments which could be treated by the village health center would be less salient in herbal medicine reports. During three months fieldwork in the Saramaccan village of Pikin Slee, ethnobotanical data were collected by means of participant observations, voucher collections and 27 semi-structured interviews and informal discussions with 20 respondents. To test whether knowledge ...

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2016

Although ritual plant use is now recognised both for its socio-cultural importance and for its co... more Although ritual plant use is now recognised both for its socio-cultural importance and for its contribution to nature conservation, its potential pharmacological effects remain overlooked. Our objective was to see whether ritual plant use could have ethnopharmacological relevance through practices that involve direct physical contact with the human body. We hypothesise that ritual practices reflect traditional knowledge on biological activities of plant species, even if plants are used in a symbolic way. Data were collected in collaboration with traditional healers and ritual plant vendors and harvesters in Benin (West Africa) and Gabon (Central Africa). Both ritual and medicinal uses of plants were recorded. Voucher specimens were collected and identified. We documented different administration routes of ritual plants and selected those whose uses involved direct contact with the human body. Based on our quantitative market surveys and field inventories, we identified 24 commercially or otherwise culturally important species and compared their ritual uses with proven biological activity from the literature. We recorded 573 plant species with 667 ritual uses, of which ca. 75% (442 species and 499 uses) implied direct contact with the human body. The most common route of administration for ritual treatments was baths, followed by oral ingestion and skin rubbing. One third (186 species) of all ritual plants doubled as medicine for physical ailments. In contrast to previous research that explained the effectiveness of ritual plant use to be a matter of belief, our results hint at the potential medicinal properties of these plants. Ritual treatment of madness caused by evil spirits by the consumption of Rauvolfia vomitoria roots, for example, may be based on the species' proven anticonvulsant properties. We discuss some of the possible implications of ritual plant use for public health and conclude by suggesting that ritual plant uses that do not involve contact with the human body may also be vehicles for the transmission of traditional medicinal knowledge.

Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 2005

Aerial roots of hemiepiphytes are used throughout the Amazon Basin for house construction, basket... more Aerial roots of hemiepiphytes are used throughout the Amazon Basin for house construction, basketry, traps and furniture. Here we describe how 15 species of hemiepiphytes are extracted by six indigenous groups in the Colombian Amazon for traditional artefacts, commercial crafts and as raw material for the furniture industry. Indigenous classification systems, use preferences, and the influence of the craft trade on indigenous livelihoods are discussed. The craft trade seems to improve the living conditions of local communities by making them less dependent from local guerrilla and coca production. However, we seriously question the sustainability of current fibre extraction. Designing adequate management plans for commercial hemiepiphytes is essential to guarantee the future supply of these valuable non-timber forest products.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2016

In West Africa, women utilize wild plant species to maintain and enhance their health throughout ... more In West Africa, women utilize wild plant species to maintain and enhance their health throughout the duration of pregnancy. These plants are a culturally resilient and financially accessible form of nourishment for pregnant women in the region, many of whom are malnourished, yet studies that identify both the nutritional and medicinal properties of these plants are limited. The objective of this study was to analyze women's knowledge of plants consumed in pregnancy in the southern regions of Ghana and Benin from a food-medicine continuum perspective. We gathered data in two fieldwork periods in West Africa (Ghana 2010 and Benin 2011) through herbal market surveys and 56 questionnaires with women and then conducted a literature review on known properties of the plants. Ghanaian women reported consuming wild greens such as iron-rich Nephrolepis biserrata and tree barks such as protein-rich Ricinodendron heudelotii in a soup based on the African oil palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis), a source of fatty acids. In Benin, participants frequently reported ingesting plants during pregnancy in the form of herbal teas. Commonly cited species included Securidaca longipedunculata, Dichapetalum madagascariense, and Schwenckia americana. Several of the plants demonstrated antioxidant, anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory activity in pharmacological studies, yet the majority has incomplete nutritional and pharmacological profiles. In total, informants cited 105 species that were consumed during pregnancy. Although Ghanaian and Beninese women mentioned different species and different forms of consumption, in both countries women cited "strengthening" as the most common motivation to consume wild plants during pregnancy. Strengthening is a concept that resonates within the food-medicine continuum, bridging the local diet and herbal pharmacopoeia of women's plant use during pregnancy. Ethnobotanical studies of this nature highlight the multidimensional use of plants and can improve health and nutritional programs in the region.

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Sep 2015

Magical charm plants – used to ensure good luck in hunting, fishing, agriculture, love and warfar... more Magical charm plants – used to ensure good luck in hunting, fishing, agriculture, love and warfare – are known among many Amerindians groups in the Guianas. Documented by anthropologists as social and political markers and exchangeable commodities, these charms have received little attention by ethnobotanists, as they are surrounded by secrecy and are difficult to identify. We compared the use of charm species among indigenous groups in the Guianas to see whether similarity in charm species was related to geographical or cultural proximity. We hypothesized that cultivated plants were more widely shared than wild ones and that charms with underground bulbs were more widely used than those without such organs, as vegetatively propagated plants would facilitate transfer of charm knowledge.

Forest Ecology and Management, 2008

Ethnobotany …, 2008

Medicinal plant markets provide not only a snapshot of a country's medicinal flora, but also of t... more Medicinal plant markets provide not only a snapshot of a country's medicinal flora, but also of the importance of herbal medicine among its inhabitants and their concerns about health and illness. During a market survey in 2006, we collected data on the diversity, source, and volume of plants being sold and exported, and the preferences of urban consumers in Suriname. More than 245 species of medicinal plants were sold at the markets of Paramaribo. The annual value of the domestic and export market was estimated to be worth over US$ 1.5 million. Prices of medicinal products were determined by resource scarcity, processing costs, distance to harvesting sites, and local demand. The growing numbers of urban Maroons with their cultural beliefs regarding health and illness, and their strong family ties to the interior are the moving force behind the commercialization of herbal medicine in Suriname.

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 2015

Old World crops entered the Americas as provision on slave ships and were planted by enslaved Afr... more Old World crops entered the Americas as provision on slave ships and were planted by enslaved Africans in their home gardens, known as the 'Botanical Gardens of the Dispossessed'. Escaped slaves who settled in Maroon communities in Suriname's forested interior practiced shifting cultivation for centuries with seeds they brought from their home gardens. After the abolishment of slavery, Creoles largely abandoned agriculture and farming became the activity of Asian wage laborers. Maroon agriculture has never been studied in detail. The recent discovery of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) in a Maroon garden initiated this ethnobotanical study on Old World crops grown by Maroons, and their motivations for maintaining this agrodiversity. In 2013, we collected crop cultivars and landraces and interviewed 16 Aucan and Saramaccan Maroon farmers. The greatest richness was encountered in bananas, taro, okra and rice. Most crops were used for food, but sesame, melegueta pepper and African rice largely lost their food function and served mainly for rituals. Farmers exchanged seeds and tubers with family members and other ethnicities in both urban and forest communities. Spending time in the capital during childbirth or illness resulted in the loss of typical Maroon crops (e.g., Bambara groundnut), as seeds lost viability during the farmer's absence. Motivation to grow specific crops and cultivars varied from tradition, food preference, seasonal spreading, rituals and traditional medicine. Documentation of specific landrace properties, storage of seeds in germplasm centers and in situ conservation are urgently needed to safeguard these previously undocumented Maroon landraces.

Taxon, 2012

The recent English translation of the diary of the Swedish naturalist Daniel Rolander (written 17... more The recent English translation of the diary of the Swedish naturalist Daniel Rolander (written 1754-1756) reveals the earliest written records on useful plants of Suriname. Since he did not grant Linnaeus access to his specimens, Rolander never received credit for his work, part of his collection was lost, and his diary never published. Here we compare Rolander's notes with recent ethnobotanical data from the Guianas and discuss how plant use has changed in the past 250 years. All species names in the diary with (potential) uses were updated to their current taxonomic status by using modern and historical literature, digitized Rolander specimens, herbarium collections and online nomenclatural databases. Rolander's diary lists uses for 263 plant names (228-242 spp.). Major use categories are medicine (109 spp.) and food (107 spp.). About 86% of these species are still used in Suriname today, 54% similarly as in the 1750s. Greatest correspondence was found among cultivated food crops, timber and ornamental species. Living conditions in Suriname have greatly improved since 1755, so much ancient famine food is now forgotten; while then popular fruits have become 'emergency food' today. Although ideas about health and illness have changed over the past centuries, uses have remained unchanged for 36% of the medicinal species. Rolander's diary contains first-hand observations on how plant uses were discovered, and how this knowledge was accumulated, transferred or kept secret in an 18th-century slave society. It represents one of the few historical sources that document the transfer of ethnobotanical knowledge among Amerindians, Europeans and Africans, as well as the trial-and-error process by which the enslaved Africans learned to use a new, American flora.

Journal of ethnopharmacology, 2012; 143(3):840-50. , 2012

ABSTRACT Enslaved Africans in the Americas had to reinvent their medicinal flora in an unknown en... more ABSTRACT Enslaved Africans in the Americas had to reinvent their medicinal flora in an unknown environment by adhering to plants that came with them, learning from Amerindians and Europeans, using their Old World knowledge and trial and error to find substitutes for their homeland herbs. This process has left few written records, and little research has been done on transatlantic plant use. We used the composition of aphrodisiac mixtures across the black Atlantic to discuss the adaptation of herbal medicine by African diaspora in the New World. Since Africans are considered relatively recent migrants in America, their healing flora is often said to consist largely of pantropical and cultivated species, with few native trees. Therefore, we expected Caribbean recipes to be dominated by taxa that occur in both continents, poor in forest species and rich in weeds and domesticated exotics. To test this hypothesis, we compared botanical ingredients of 35 African and 117 Caribbean mixtures, using Dentrended Correspondence Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Indicator Species Analysis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Very few of the 324 ingredients were used on both continents. A slightly higher overlap on generic and family level showed that Africans did search for taxa that were botanically related to African ones, but largely selected new, unrelated plants with similar taste, appearance or pharmacological properties. Recipes from the forested Guianas contained more New World, wild and forest species than those from deforested Caribbean islands. We recorded few 'transatlantic genera' and weeds never dominated the recipes, so we rejected our hypothesis. The popularity of bitter tonics in the Caribbean suggests an African heritage, but the inclusion of Neotropical species and vernacular names of plants and mixtures indicate Amerindian and European influence. We show that enslaved Africans have reinvented their herbal medicine wherever they were put to work, using the knowledge and flora that was available to them with great creativity and flexibility. Our analysis reveals how transplanted humans adapt their traditional medical practises in a new environment.